The field of art to which this invention pertains is the selective saturation of olefin-containing halogenated organic compounds while minimizing the hydrodehalogenation of the organic compounds and the resulting potential production of halide-free hydrocarbon compounds.
There is a steadily increasing demand for technology which is capable of treating or converting olefin-containing halogenated organic compounds to produce saturated halogenated organic compounds with essentially no formation of hydrogen halide compounds.
With the increased environmental emphasis for the treatment and recycle of organic streams including by-product and waste streams containing halogenated compounds, there is an increased need for improved processes to selectively convert certain organic streams. For example, during the disposal or recycle of potentially environmentally harmful organic waste streams, an important step in the total solution to the problem is to chemically transform a potentially hazardous organic waste stream to a useful product stream which may subsequently be handled in an environmentally acceptable manner. One environmentally attractive method of treating halogenated organic waste streams is by hydrogenation. Often in an industrial complex used to process or produce petrochemicals and organic compounds, there are by-product or waste streams which must be treated, converted, recycled or otherwise managed. Therefore, those skilled in the art have sought to find feasible and economical techniques to convert organic waste streams containing halide compounds to hydrogenated organic compounds.